Album Review: HAERTS – Laguna Road
2 min read
HAERTS, a German duo that are known for their mix of synth-pop and rock, have a new release!! Laguna Road, released via Arts & Crafts, was born out of a literal journey to their house, literally on Laguna Road, in a small coastal town in California, where the album was written and recorded. That setting oozes through the album (their fourth), which they’ve described as a love letter to change, memory, and the strange calm that comes with starting over – lets dive right in!!
A solo drum beat, in an almost heartbeat rhythm , opens Letters on the Floor, which has a haunting waltz-like lullaby quality to it delivery of the vocals, A fantastically well-constructed track, where the vocal tones support the instrumentation, which also work in harmony with the lyrics. Following on, Enemy is full down tempo indie, with vocalist Nini’s vocals providing a ethereal quality to some fantastic minimalist acoustic guitars, which weave in expertly timed orchestral and choral elements as the song ebbs and flows, and this high level of production continues through to Brighter Day – again minimalist analogue sounds mixed with backing singing notes, yet you’re hit with a cacophony of sound at the chorus of “Brighter day, I’m coming home” – a powerful yet delicate track, while You are the Blue is more melancholy, with some fantastic plucky fingering on the guitar.
Lyrically and vocally solemn, Memento is a powerful, yet minimalist track which builds toward the end of the track but left me with goose bumps. Woman on the Line is a more conventional, chart friendly track, still fantastic, but you can tell from the arrangement and composition that it’s a more polished track, as is The Lie – though it’s less minimalist, with synth elements which had not been notable in the rest of this very analogue album – nonetheless both fantastic tracks. Rounding off the offering, HAERTS gives Wait for Us my favourite track on Laguna Road – still tones of glum but a busier track composition wise – fantastic track well placed on the album as almost a crescendo of melancholy, if you like.
I loved Laguna Road – a very analogue album, a very short album (under thirty minutes long and only eight tracks) and a very melancholy album… but most importantly, a very good album. It captures an evolving band, growing in the confidence that only a group completely at ease with who they are can do. I’m obviously adding this to my downloaded albums – just take thirty minutes out of your day and give it a listen.
